HighRollers: Lightfall/Episode 42
"Jiutou: Angel of Death" is the forty-second episode of the Lightfall campaign for High Rollers D&D. It was broadcast live on the Yogscast Twitch channel on March 26, 2017. With Chris Trott and Matthew Toffolo absent for this episode, Tom Hazell joins as a special guest. In this episode, a rescue mission to free Reynard takes place. This leads to more encounters with the Broken Sky, ultimately breaking Reynard's facade and forcing our heroes to retreat. Campaign Summary Rescuing Reynard Not knowing where he is, Reynard is now bound and trapped in a dark cellar. As he is afraid of the dark, he starts to panic and makes a lot of noise. An elder dwarf walks over to the door hatch and asks Reynard to keep quiet or the Broken Sky agents will come and beat him up. After much coaxing and now having a small candle for some illumination, Reynard has calm down enough to finally see what is in the cellar. Though the outline is faint, an empty wine bottle is seen, so Reynard grabs it and tries to break it so he can use it to cut the ropes. Meanwhile, both Elora Galanodel and Jiǔtóu stealthily make their way to the house where the captured Reynard was taken to. Elora has shape-shifted into a sparrow, while Jiǔtóu remains invisible. The five guards and a captain are seen leaving the house and back to the town square after they had dragged Reynard inside. Upon reaching the house, the sparrow encircles the house to see a total of three Broken Sky agents resting inside. She then squeezes herself through a hole on the roof and is now in the empty attic. Meanwhile, Jiǔtóu gives a knock on the door. An elder dwarf goes to answer it but sees no one. With the door open, Jiǔtóu takes this chance to sneak into the house with success. Just then, Jiǔtóu hears a sound coming from the kitchen as the dwarf heads back into the room. She realises that it is Reynard that is making the sound from the cellar as Reynard manages to break the bottle and cut himself free. However, the noise causes an agent to groggily wake up from his nap. Believing that the dwarf is the one making the noise, he orders him to keep quiet, then accepts the dwarf offer of a drink. He then heads upstairs to continue his sleep. By now, the sparrow shape-shifts back to Elora and has open the attic's hatch to peep into the house. All she see is the upper hallway, as well as guessing that a person is resting in one of the upper rooms. She continue to keep watch, jumping into action when necessary. Jiǔtóu follows the sound and enters the kitchen, then backs into a corner to avoid contact with anyone. Upon seeing the door hatch, a quill is seen poking out of it as Reynard has one and is attempting to pick the lock with no success. However, as Reynard continues to make a lot of noise, another agent walks over and spots a candle, which he snuffs it, causing the cellar to plunge into darkness again. He then stomps on the hatch but as he does so, Reynard, at the same time, rams at the hatch. The ramming force causes the hatch to buckle and it throws the agent off his feet. The agent gets up and run off. The dwarf follows suit but into another room. Alone with Reynard, Jiǔtóu lets him know that she and Elora are here to rescue him but she can only do so if he remains quiet as the noise will make the rescue difficult. Reynard listens to her and quieten down. Yet, two agents now enter the kitchen and they intend to beat up Reynard for making a lot of noise. To do that, one of the agent unlocks the door hatch and grabs Reynard by the collar. Holding the bottle, Reynard takes this chance to stab it on the agent's arm. Jiǔtóu then breaks out of invisibility as she kicks the same agent into the cellar. First Round of Combat Seeing the prone agent in the cellar, Reynard kicks him to the back of the cellar. He then climbs out of the cellar but gets slashed by a dagger during the process. With her guandao, Jiǔtóu attacks the second agent multiple times, to the point where he is knocked unconscious and she deliberately makes it fall into the cellar. Seeing his dead comrade, the other agent in the cellar activates his tattoo and lets out a loud thundery blast, knocking both Jiǔtóu and Reynard to the ground. Awoken by the loud explosion, an agent hurries out of the room and rushes downstairs. However, as he just reach the staircase, Elora sees the man and casts a powerful Moonbeam on him. Second Round of Combat Reynard initially wants to run out of the house but as soon as he sees the dwarves in the house, he goes up to the nearest one and asks her if she knows where his weapons are. The female elder dwarf knows and asks him to follow her. Jiǔtóu sees Reynard leaving the kitchen and, thinking that he is running away, yells at him to come back and fight. Before chasing after him, Jiǔtóu slices the head off the agent's head first. At the same time, the powerful Moonbeam disintegrates the last agent. End of Combat Freeing the Dwarves Reynard is led to the locked chest, where his weapons are inside. Shouting for the key, Jiǔtóu yells back to the keys on the cellar's hatch lock. As Reynard goes to retrieve the keys, Jiǔtóu requests the dwarves of Ethan's whereabouts. The dwarves reply her to say that he, along with the other body-able dwarves, have been taken into the mines to work for the Broken Sky. They also let her know that there are about 20 to 30 more agents, as well as gryphons and two fire giants. Looking out of the windows, they see five Broken Sky agents and a captain walking over to the house. By now, Reynard had opened the chest and gets his weapons back. He also finds several treasure inside and takes them all. Elora takes the crossbow from one of the upper rooms and gives it to the dwarves. Rolo, the one of the three elder dwarves, offer to fight by their side but Elora and Jiǔtóu urges him to take care of the others, which also include two other child dwarves. There is banging on the front door. With no time, the five dwarves leave by the back door but not before Rolo tells the group to look for Ela, the bartender, as she may know more information about her husband Ethan. Hiding in the Field With the time running out, the group quickly decide to hide into the wheat field. They dash all the way from the back door to the nearest wheat field. Just as they enter the field, two of the agents round the corner and enter the house via the back door. However, the captain sees movements in the field and points towards where the group are at, thinking that the dwarves had escaped there. The captain and three agents then run towards them, forcing the group to head sneak deeper into the field. In panic, Reynard splits off from Elora and Jiǔtóu. Both Elora and Jiǔtóu move amongst the wheat in stealth. Reynard though realises that he is making a lot of noise, so be too begins to move slowly. Just in time, the agents who are near Reynard lost sight of any movements. Reynard then intend to light the wheat on fire but calls it off as he reckons that he do not have enough time to take out his lantern and start a fire. Just then, he unknowingly steps on a fallen scarecrow, alerting one of the agents to his presence. With seconds before he is spotted, Reynard hides underneath the scarecrow. The agent then comes into view but sees no movement and is unaware of Reynard. Meanwhile, Jiǔtóu thinks that they will need to eliminate the Broken Sky agents, reasoning that she does not want the organisation to know that they are here, given the fact that the Broken Sky would have known who Elora and Jiǔtóu are. Elora is uncertain about this but eventually decides to go with the plan. Jiǔtóu then sneaks up behind one of the agents, slashing him with her guandao, then snapping his head. At the same time, Reynard rolls out from under the scarecrow and fires two shots from the crossbow at the second agent, who is standing by the scarecrow. However, this causes a brief sound. The captain and the third agent hear the sound and head towards it. Elora and Jiǔtóu also do so, which results in everyone seeing one another. This is when the captain recognises Elora and Jiǔtóu, so he pulls out a horn to alert the giants. Before he can do so, however, Elora casts Heat Metal on the captain, shape-shifts into a giant scorpion and rams towards him, causing him to drop the horn. First Round of Combat One of the agents activate his tattoo and tries to cast Blindness on the scorpion but fails, so he later draws out his shortsword. At the same time, the other agent also activates his tattoo and vanishes. The scorpion continues to concentrate Heat Metal on the captain while attacking and knocking him prone at the same time. She then moves over to the horn, allowing both the captain and the nearest agent to attack her but they fail to do so. The scorpion attempts to crush the horn with her legs but misses. The captain activates his tattoo and successfully damages the scorpion with a Lightning spell. This causes the scorpion to lose concentration on Heat Metal, so it is no longer heating up the captain's armour. However, his respite is short lived as Jiǔtóu takes the chance to stab at the prone captain with her guandao, dealing a critical blow which kills him. Jiǔtóu then strikes at the agent closest to her. Looking deeper into the wheat field, Reynard realises that the agent he attacked did not go invisible but simply teleported away. Aiming for the agent, he then cast Conjure Barrage, which causes several projectiles to rain down on the agent. Afterwards, Reynard charges at him which knocks the agent prone. Second Round of Combat Thunderwave is cast by the agent nearest to Jiǔtóu and the scorpion, letting out a wave of thunderous force that affects both of them with a loud boom. Unknowingly, this also shatters the horn. In retaliation, Jiǔtóu evokes Hellish Rebuke and incinerates the agent. Fortunately, the wheat did not catch fire. The prone agent tries to swing his sword at Reynard but fails. He later killed after the scorpion goes over and cut his body in half. End of Combat Escape into the Forest Jiǔtóu asks the scorpion, knowing that it is Elora, if they should finish off the last two agents at the house. The scorpion replies back by snapping her pincer twice, which is a signal established for "no". Upon witnessing up close the scorpion snapping the body in half, Reynard vomits and scrambles away quickly. Throwing his weapons to one side and dropping down to the ground, he then rocks back and forth as he cries out that he does not want to do this anymore. Jiǔtóu wonders what is wrong with him, which is when Reynard finally admits that he is not as famous as he thinks. Reynard's confession made Jiǔtóu angry as she was told by Reynard himself that he once slayed a chimera. Reynard now tells them that the largest creature he had hunted was a deer outside Talis'Val, apart from the giant crocodile the day before. The scorpion shape-shifts back into her Elora self, then picks up the two weapons dropped by Reynard and gives them back to him, while encouraging him to stand up and fight, mainly because they have no other alternatives now. In replying, Reynard simply says, "Please help me!" The trio now hear sounds of five people approaching towards their direction. Jiǔtóu insist on fighting them in hopes to ensure no one else shall know of their presence, given that they are well-known to the Broken Sky. However, Elora prefers to avoid further combat, as well as pointing out that more agents may join the fray, possibly even a giant or two. With little time, the trio quickly decide to escape out of the wheat field and down a sloped river bank. They did so without causing any attention. Stealthily, the trio walk up the river and later enter a forest. They eventually find a long abandoned hunter's campsite and rest and recuperate there. Now having a proper time to talk, Jiǔtóu asks Reynard on who he is exactly. Reynard replies to say that he is simply a man inspired by the tales from his uncle of how he had slayed beasts and creatures. Reynard then adds that he desires a hunters’ guild and wants to recreate the legend of his uncle. Yet, Jiǔtóu furiously asks how did he tricked Korak the Champion and the Council into hiring him for their current mission. To this, Reynard says that it is because of his affluent family and his persuasiveness that helped him convince the Council to hire him. Elora now steps him and urges both Jiǔtóu and Reynard to calm down, since their arguments would not matter as they are in the same mess together. Still, Jiǔtóu warns Reynard never run away from battle again, with Elora reinforcing this. Reynard exclaims that he will never leave their side after see what the two are capable of during combat. By now, Reynard have also inspire everyone, including himself. As the trio rest, Elora keeps watch on the town of Velderbann. Sometime later, two flying armoured gryphons are seen pulling a chariot in the sky. Sitting on it is a male fire giant, which is believed to be Gregor. After alerting Jiǔtóu and Reynard, the trio then see the chariot landing in the town square. The giant gets up and seems to be walking about the town, though the buildings block whatever things Gregor might be doing. Even with Primeval Awareness, Reynard picks up the same thing. It is this that the trio decide that finding Ela for more information is their best bet. As the trio discuss their next move, there is a crackle in the air and the smell of sulphur. A glowing sphere appears and pops, revealing that it is Cam as he greets his companions. Featured Characters The Adventurers * Cam Buckland (DM-controlled) * Elora Galanodel * Jiutou Zhiji Jing New Appeared * Rolo[spelling?], a male elder dwarf * 4 other dwarves: 2 elder and 2 child Mentioned * Female fire giant Returning Appeared * Gregor, a male fire giant * Reynard Ferehorn * Several Broken Sky captains * Several Broken Sky agents Mentioned * Council of Guilds * Ela[spelling?], bartender and Ethan's wife * Ethan[spelling?], tavern owner and Ela's husband * Korak the Champion * Reynard's uncle Notable Moments Trivia References Category:High Rollers D&D